Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Pleased to Report ...

 ... that my app gripe from last week has resolved itself.

Or, rather, someone, but not me, resolved it.

InoReader (not an affiliate link) is no longer freezing up. Maybe there was a problem with the app itself and they fixed it, or maybe there was a problem in MX Linux that got fixed on an update, or maybe there was a problem in Microsoft Edge that got fixed in an update (I never spent enough time in other OSes or browsers to troubleshoot where the problem was).

So now InoReader is back to being, so far as I can tell, flawless and the absolute best RSS reader solution available anywhere.

Wordle 1795 Hint

 Hint: First name (with, for example, Springfield, Hill, or Rhodes).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ad below.

New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: D

Monday, May 18, 2026

The Ultimate One-Paragraph Case for Free Trade ...

... comes in fictional form, and from a "moderate left-wing" TV show, The West Wing. I've always loved the scene, and was glad to see Jake Scott do the work of pulling the monologue text at the Foundation for Economic Education. Here it is:

You want the benefits of free trade? Food is cheaper. Food is cheaper, clothes are cheaper, steel is cheaper, cars are cheaper, phone service is cheaper. You feel me building a rhythm here? That’s ’cause I’m a speechwriter and I know how to make a point. It lowers prices, it raises income. You see what I did with “lowers” and “raises” there? It’s called the science of listener attention. We did repetition, we did floating opposites, and now you end with the one that’s not like the others. Ready? Free trade stops wars. And that’s it. Free trade stops wars! And we figure out a way to fix the rest!

Mic drop, if that had been a thing back then. Whoever wrote that particular bit should have followed up with a book -- How to Make an Irrefutable, But Not Boring, Argument in 110 Words.